Page 113 of Darling Wildfire
More air. More compressions.
More air. More compressions.
More air—
Nyx gasped for breath, sputtering.
He grimaced and blinked rapidly beforelooking at me.
“Jesus, North—you want to kiss me you just have to ask.”
“Fuck you—” I croaked weakly.
I fell back on my heels into the sand, exhausted and drained. Relief coursed through me so fast I closed my eyes as the world spun. Atlas took over, applying pressure to the gunshot wound as Nyx sat up with a groan.
“Don’t fucking scare us like that!” Atlas demanded.
The buzzer interrupted any reply as it blared out over the landscape, mocking our defeat. Nyx looked over at me, a new fear shining in his eyes.
“We lost,” he said. “Fuck! You should have just left me and gone after Red!”
“Fuck off,” Atlas snapped. “He had two men waiting for him down the beach and we’re out of ammo.”
I didn’t have the breath to argue with Nyx. Movement up the beach caught my eye and I looked up to see Preacher supporting Kane as they limped towards us. Kane was bleeding heavily from what looked like several gunshot wounds. I heard coughing, and we all turned towards the ocean to see the two kids coming out of the surf. Kane and Preacher reached us as Atlas and I helped Nyx to his feet, supporting him between us.
“Looks like you three had some fun,” Kane rasped. “And look! The kids made it back!”
I didn’t even care to know what we all looked like as we shuffled our way back to the safe zone. The sour taste of our loss permeated the air and the dread of what awaited us back at the mansion loomed ahead as the mouth of the doors swallowed us up and took us back to hell.
56
THERON
Kane and Nyx took the most time in the infirmary. Kane had multiple gunshot wounds, several life threatening and once Nyx was deposited back with us, we were informed Kane would need to be kept sedated overnight to finish repairs.
The guards stood at the door. “Vetticus is requesting one of you. You choose or we make the choice for you.”
I didn’t think it was possible for Nyx to grow paler, but he did as I stepped forward.
“T—” he protested, but I held up a hand.
“We talked about this,” I said.
Without another word the guards cuffed me and escorted me out of our building and across the large expanse of land towards the estate. We entered through the front doors and walked down a dimly lit hallway.
The guards led me into a sitting room and into a corner where they stretched each arm out and chained it to either wall. The guards cut my clothing from me, leaving me naked, then left the room to reveal Vetticus sitting in a high-back chair, ankle crossed over knee, with a glass of whiskey dangling from his hand.
“Ah, this is unexpected. I didn’t take you for a sacrificial lamb, Kraven,” he said easily. “Little selfless of you don’t you think?”
I didn’t reply.
“Your team had quite the game today,” he went on. “I thought you guys had it for a minute there.”
Vetticus swirled his glass and threw back the rest of it. He stood up and walked over to stand in front of me.
“All of you have grown very close, haven’t you...” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “When that happens I get a little—antsy. Of course you remember what happened last time you showed me a similar weakness.”
He chuckled. “Of course, I doubt you’d forget something like that.”
